1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to telephone call log data accessible by a subscriber.
2. Background Information
The written description provided herein contains acronyms which refer to various telecommunications services, components and techniques, as well as features relating to the present invention. Although some of these acronyms are known, use of these acronyms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of the written description herein, the acronyms are defined as follows:
Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Generic Data Interface (GDI)
HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML)
HyperText Transfer Language Protocol (HTTP)
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
Off-Hook Delay (OHD)
Call Log (CL)
Personal Call Manager/Personal Communications Manager (PCM)
Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
Service Control Point (SCP)
Service Switching Point (SSP)
Signaling System 7 (SS7)
Signaling Transfer Point (STP)
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
Background Information
Presently, a number of advanced intelligent network (AIN) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) based telephone systems enable dynamic interaction between their customers and their respective service accounts. Servers, databases, intelligent peripherals and other external data network elements interface with the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to process and store information created during routine handling of telephone calls. For example, names may be associated with incoming calling party numbers using an external directory database while the PSTN is processing the call. The name, telephone number and other call specific information may then be stored in an external database for access by the customer.
For example, an outgoing call logging database is described in Brandt et al. U.S. Patent Publication 2003/0026413 entitled System and Method for Creating and Accessing Outgoing Telephone Call Log. Brandt et al. describes a system for providing an outgoing call log on an external database. Brandt describes a system and a method to store, display and report outgoing call log data in an external data base associated with outgoing telephone calls from a subscriber's telephone. The Brandt system includes a switch in one network that receives a telephone call from the subscriber's telephone and launches a query in response to an AIN trigger to a service control point (SCP). In response, the SCP forwards associated call data to an interface server in another network via a generic data interface. The interface server obtains additional information from a directory database and sends the call data and the additional information to an external outgoing call log database, which stores the call data and the additional information as the outgoing call log data. A web server retrieves the outgoing call log data and displays it to the subscriber at a web client.